Blainville-Boisbriand Armada look to take stranglehold in QMJHL series vs. Gatineau

The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada passed their first playoff test. Now comes the tougher one — the unfriendly confines of Gatineau's Robert Guertin Arena.

Strange and mysterious things have been known to happen to visiting teams at the Guertin come playoff time, with a ghost roaming the building and taking up residence behind the opposition net. The Armada, the franchise which relocated from Montreal to the suburbs, have taken a commanding 2-0 series lead, but now the old barn will be jumping heading into games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"It's never easy against Gatineau, they're a very good playoff team that play extremely well at home," Armada coach Jean-François Houle says. "We (Armada) know we'll have to be ready, they have a history of playing well at the Guertin in such a great atmosphere that is created by the fans."

Winning this match-up would be a tremendous boost to the Armada's coaches, players and staff. It would also give the first-year team's fans a taste of a playoff run. The Armada worked hard all year, finishing 40-22-4-2 to earn the No. 3 playoff seed by winning the Telus West division.

"Being successful in the playoffs is very important for our fans as well as everybody that is associated with the team," Houle says. "We exceeded our expectations during the regular season and it's very important to do the same in the post season. Not many people thought we would end up where we did in the standings and we want to prove to everybody that it wasn't a fluke."

Balanced attack

The Armada have a solid mix of talented forwards, skilled defencemen and a very impressive goaltender with Etienne Marcoux, who is ranked 13th among North American netminders by NHL Central Scouting.

Blainville-Boisbriand did not have a top-20 scorer in the QMJHL, yet still finished fifth in the league with 258 goals. Forward Jess Tanguy topped the club with 22 goals and 75 points. Detroit Red Wings second-round choice Xavier Ouellet talled 21 goals and 60 points from his blueline spot, good for third among QMJHL defencemen.

Rookie Christopher Clapperton had an impressive season with 18 goals and 55 points.

"It's no secret that we win by committee," says Houle, whose team had 11 players chip in with points while they outscored Gatineau 12-3 in the first two games. "A lot of different players stepped during the season to help us get where we are. Our plan is to build on this success every game and see where it takes us. I'm hoping it's going to be a heck of a ride."

Mike Beasley is a QMJHL columnist for Buzzing The Net.